One of my regular daily reads described Brian Wilson as a “huge all-American
galoot who is emotionally sensitive to the point of fragility.”
I know the word and it’s not used much, so that prompted me to look up
the
etymology; OED2 doesn’t give any etymology, for its first definition it says 1.
Naut. (See quot. 1867.), which is:
“1867 Smyth Sailor’s Word-bk., Galoot, an awkward soldier..A soubriquet for the
young or ‘green’ marine.”
Earliest citation there is from 1812, “Galloot, a soldier”.
Wiktionary, to my mild surprise, says:
“From Quranic Arabic جالُوت (jālūt, pronounced galūt in Egyptian Arabic),
proper name equivalent to English Goliath, giant warrior of the ancient Philistine ethnicity; cf. connotations of derogatory uses of English Philistine. Doublet of goliath.”
On searching Google books Anthony Liberman lists it as among his “Origin uncertain” words, but describes that “as early as the thirteenth
century, the
Italian word galeot(t)o ‘sailor: steersman on a galley’ became current
in
French, German and Dutch, and acquired an additional sense, namely ‘pirate.’
Galeotto continued into Modern Italian and has, among others, a
derogarory
sense, though not coinciding with that of English galoot.”
So, where did the word come from? Certainly not directly from Egyptian Arabic,
given the British were there quite late in the nineteenth century and
the word
is attested from 1812. Dutch? I have cross-posted to nl.taal but it is
not
clear to me that this will be particularly helpful.
One of my regular daily reads described Brian Wilson as a “huge all-American
galoot who is emotionally sensitive to the point of fragility.”
I know the word and it’s not used much, so that prompted me to look up the etymology; OED2 doesn’t give any etymology, for its first definition it says 1.
Naut. (See quot. 1867.), which is:
“1867 Smyth Sailor’s Word-bk., Galoot, an awkward soldier..A soubriquet for the
young or ‘green’ marine.”
Earliest citation there is from 1812, “Galloot, a soldier”.
Wiktionary, to my mild surprise, says:
“From Quranic Arabic جالُوت (jālūt, pronounced galūt in Egyptian Arabic),
proper name equivalent to English Goliath, giant warrior of the ancient Philistine ethnicity; cf. connotations of derogatory uses of English Philistine. Doublet of goliath.”
On searching Google books Anthony Liberman lists it as among his “Origin uncertain” words, but describes that “as early as the thirteenth century, the
Italian word galeot(t)o ‘sailor: steersman on a galley’ became current in French, German and Dutch, and acquired an additional sense, namely ‘pirate.’
Galeotto continued into Modern Italian and has, among others, a derogarory sense, though not coinciding with that of English galoot.”
So, where did the word come from? Certainly not directly from Egyptian Arabic,
given the British were there quite late in the nineteenth century and the word
is attested from 1812. Dutch? I have cross-posted to nl.taal but it is not clear to me that this will be particularly helpful.
On 2025-06-11 14:25, Aidan Kehoe wrote:
One of my regular daily reads described Brian Wilson as a “huge all-American
galoot who is emotionally sensitive to the point of fragility.”
I know the word and it’s not used much, so that prompted me to look up the >> etymology; OED2 doesn’t give any etymology, for its first definition it says 1.
Naut. (See quot. 1867.), which is:
“1867 Smyth Sailor’s Word-bk., Galoot, an awkward soldier..A soubriquet for the
young or ‘green’ marine.”
Earliest citation there is from 1812, “Galloot, a soldier”.
I have only heard it in dusters (wild west cowboy films).
I've not seen/heard "dusters" as a reference to the cowboy movies of
my youth, but a "duster" was commonly worn by the cowboys. A "duster"
is a long coat with a slit up the back so it can be worn when on
horse.
On 2025-06-11 14:25, Aidan Kehoe wrote:
One of my regular daily reads described Brian Wilson as a “huge all-
American
galoot who is emotionally sensitive to the point of fragility.”
I know the word and it’s not used much, so that prompted me to look up
the
etymology; OED2 doesn’t give any etymology, for its first definition
it says 1.
Naut. (See quot. 1867.), which is:
“1867 Smyth Sailor’s Word-bk., Galoot, an awkward soldier..A
soubriquet for the
young or ‘green’ marine.”
Earliest citation there is from 1812, “Galloot, a soldier”.
I have only heard it in dusters (wild west cowboy films).
One of my regular daily reads described Brian Wilson as a "huge all-American galoot who is emotionally sensitive to the point of fragility."
I know the word and it's not used much, so that prompted me to look up the etymology; OED2 doesn't give any etymology, for its first definition it
says 1. Naut. (See quot. 1867.), which is:
"1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Galoot, an awkward soldier..A soubriquet
for the young or 'green' marine."
Earliest citation there is from 1812, "Galloot, a soldier".
Wiktionary, to my mild surprise, says:
"From Quranic Arabic ?????? (j?l?t, pronounced gal?t in Egyptian Arabic), proper name equivalent to English Goliath, giant warrior of the ancient Philistine ethnicity; cf. connotations of derogatory uses of English Philistine. Doublet of goliath."
On searching Google books Anthony Liberman lists it as among his "Origin uncertain" words, but describes that "as early as the thirteenth century, the Italian word galeot(t)o 'sailor: steersman on a galley' became current in French, German and Dutch, and acquired an additional sense, namely 'pirate.' Galeotto continued into Modern Italian and has, among others, a derogarory sense, though not coinciding with that of English galoot."
So, where did the word come from? Certainly not directly from Egyptian Arabic,
given the British were there quite late in the nineteenth century and the word
is attested from 1812. Dutch? I have cross-posted to nl.taal but it is not clear to me that this will be particularly helpful.
[...] No Dutch connection, afaik. The word 'galjoot' does exist in Dutch, but it is a kind of ship, nothing to do with any kind of person.
Aidan Kehoe <[email protected]> wrote:
One of my regular daily reads described Brian Wilson as a "huge all-American
galoot who is emotionally sensitive to the point of fragility."
I know the word and it's not used much, so that prompted me to look up the etymology; OED2 doesn't give any etymology, for its first definition it says 1. Naut. (See quot. 1867.), which is:
"1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Galoot, an awkward soldier..A soubriquet
for the young or 'green' marine."
Earliest citation there is from 1812, "Galloot, a soldier".
Wiktionary, to my mild surprise, says:
"From Quranic Arabic ?????? (j?l?t, pronounced gal?t in Egyptian Arabic), proper name equivalent to English Goliath, giant warrior of the ancient Philistine ethnicity; cf. connotations of derogatory uses of English Philistine. Doublet of goliath."
On searching Google books Anthony Liberman lists it as among his "Origin uncertain" words, but describes that "as early as the thirteenth century, the
Italian word galeot(t)o 'sailor: steersman on a galley' became current in French, German and Dutch, and acquired an additional sense, namely 'pirate.'
Galeotto continued into Modern Italian and has, among others, a derogarory sense, though not coinciding with that of English galoot."
So, where did the word come from? Certainly not directly from Egyptian Arabic,
given the British were there quite late in the nineteenth century and the word
is attested from 1812. Dutch? I have cross-posted to nl.taal but it is not clear to me that this will be particularly helpful.
No Dutch connection, afaik. The word 'galjoot' does exist in Dutch,
but it is a kind of ship, nothing to do with any kind of person.
On Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:07:44 +0200
[email protected] (J. J. Lodder) wrote:
Aidan Kehoe <[email protected]> wrote:
One of my regular daily reads described Brian Wilson as a "huge all-American galoot who is emotionally sensitive to the point of fragility."
I know the word and it's not used much, so that prompted me to look up the
etymology; OED2 doesn't give any etymology, for its first definition it says 1. Naut. (See quot. 1867.), which is:
"1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Galoot, an awkward soldier..A soubriquet for the young or 'green' marine."
Earliest citation there is from 1812, "Galloot, a soldier".
Wiktionary, to my mild surprise, says:
"From Quranic Arabic ?????? (j?l?t, pronounced gal?t in Egyptian Arabic), proper name equivalent to English Goliath, giant warrior of the ancient Philistine ethnicity; cf. connotations of derogatory uses of English Philistine. Doublet of goliath."
On searching Google books Anthony Liberman lists it as among his
"Origin uncertain" words, but describes that "as early as the
thirteenth century, the Italian word galeot(t)o 'sailor: steersman on
a galley' became current in French, German and Dutch, and acquired an additional sense, namely 'pirate.' Galeotto continued into Modern
Italian and has, among others, a derogarory sense, though not
coinciding with that of English galoot."
So, where did the word come from? Certainly not directly from Egyptian Arabic, given the British were there quite late in the nineteenth
century and the word is attested from 1812. Dutch? I have cross-posted
to nl.taal but it is not clear to me that this will be particularly helpful.
No Dutch connection, afaik. The word 'galjoot' does exist in Dutch,
but it is a kind of ship, nothing to do with any kind of person.
Not derived from a British (English in those days) naval disparagement
of the galjoot's handling?
Ah well. Another Urban Moth quashed before
take-off.
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